WESTERNERS EYE BIG SCALP
Ex-Leinster players will be keen to get one over old team
GETTING dumped from a relationship is never a pleasant experience and it creates the overwhelming urge to show how much life has improved when running into the ex afterwards. ‘You thought I wasn’t good enough, eh? Well, look at me now…’
It is a theme coursing through tonight’s showdown between Leinster and Connacht at the RDS and one that has featured regularly in meetings between the provinces over the years.
Going back to Victor Costello, Steve Jameson and Conor McGuinness in the 1990s, there is a long history of unwanted Leinster players moving west to get appreciation and then using rejection bitterness to fire their performances in clashes with their old team.
It is a motivating factor that has worked well for Connacht over the years, the generally underresourced Westerners regularly raising their game to shock their vaunted rivals.
That has generated considerable levels of resentment in Leinster — peeved at the fact that Connacht would play so far above themselves for this fixture before lapsing back to relative mediocrity.
However, those upsets have tended to come in Galway — six wins in the last 11 encounters with Leinster at the Sportsground — and you have to go back 16 years for Connacht’s last triumph in Dublin.
That came in Donnybook (see panel) and, despite coming close on occasion, Connacht have never managed to experience success at the RDS.
It is why they have been largely written off tonight — rated 5/1 outsiders — even though close to full strength whereas Leinster have opted to rest the majority of their frontliners ahead of next weekend’s trip to Munster.
But the rejection theme — which sees the Connacht start an exLeinster contingent of Cian Kelleher, Tom Farrell, Denis Buckley, Gavin Thornbury and Paul Boyle — suggests this could be a lot closer than many assume, with the prospect of a historic victory a live possibility.
The likes of centre Farrell and back-row Boyle are in exceptional form this season, to the point of coming into the Ireland conversation, and talking to those around the Connacht camp, it is clear the desire to show Leinster what they are missing is a significant factor in the pair’s rise to prominence.
Connacht are really starting to motor under Andy Friend, their run of five successive victories displaying an impressive mixture of dog and daring and after the unfortunate stalled season with Kieran Keane, the buzz is back out west with distinct echoes of the performances that spurred them to Pro12 glory with Pat Lam in 2016.
You go through the Connacht team-sheet and is hard to escape the conclusion the bookies have got it wrong.
Of course, the champions’ oftreferenced depth means whatever side Leo Cullen selects will have a seam of quality running through it and that is the case here again.
Ross Byrne and Jamison GibsonPark are an international class half-back combination, there is pace and menace in the likes of Rory O’Loughlin and Adam Byrne in the three-quarters while Scott Fardy and captain Rhys Ruddock add meat and gravitas to the pack.
But tonight’s encounter is a level up from the insipid Pro14 resistance Leinster’s understudies overwhelmed recently at home to Ospreys and away to Dragons.
Connacht look to have the edge in the front row with their 2016 trio of Buckley, McCartney and Finlay Bealham while they look particularly strong in the backrow also through Boyle, the improving Colby Fainga’a and quietly impressive captain Jarrad Butler.
Jack Carty and Caolin Blade will need to impose themselves against Byrne and Gibson-Park but if they have good ball to work with, then Farrell, Kelleher and Tiernan O’Halloran can do considerable damage out wide.
There is an irritating tendency to dismiss these end of year league encounters when teams mix and match their selections — particularly when, like tonight, the combatants are in different conferences meaning the result has no direct bearing on their play-off aspirations.
However, the inter-provincial rivalry aspect guarantees Christmas spice, particularly heading into a World Cup year when players are desperate to gain the attention of the international selectors. As is the case with Ultan Dillane in the Connacht engine room. The remarkable progression of James Ryan and Tadhg Beirne’s repatriation have seen Dillane slip down the Ireland pecking order but the 11-times capped second row (his last international outing was against Fiji over a year ago) is due a big game to remind everyone why he was seen as Ireland’s second row future a couple of seasons ago.
Friend may only be at the helm a matter of months but the Australian has already got to the pitch of what works for Connacht and seems aware of what this challenge represents.
‘Leinster are the complete package, it’s why they are European champions and probably the best club team in the world — but that brings an opportunity,’ says Friend.
‘That’s how we are looking at it, we are building our game and no better chance to test ourselves against the best.’
There is a steel behind his words that is backed up by accounts of a special intensity to the Connacht preparations this week.
Leinster were comfortable 20-3 winners when the sides met in Galway earlier this season and are expected to land a similar result tonight.
However, Connacht look a tougher proposition three months on and have the self-belief, momentum and ability to achieve a famous result — with ex-Leinster bitterness leading the way.